VRE 1 - lessons learned

Just found my notes from the JISC Conference 2007 and rather than lose them again thought they might be more useful here:

The session on VREs raised a number of questions:

• is a VRE a warehouse or a federated repository?


• should it be a social space or an organised rich space?


• what is the right level of granularity?


• should content be open or protected?


• what about desktop integration?


• how can we enable added value by researchers?


• how is software evolving? how can we make it sustainable?

Roger Slack talked about users:

• requirements gathering is not a one-off - it is longitudinal


• need active involvement of all partners


• enfranchisement - spell out benefits to users


• ensure funding to support championing